Obama attack ads having adverse results

It’s interesting to note more Americans than ever have the opinion that President Obama’s seemingly endless personal attacks on Republican nominee Mitt Romney are more “unfair” than anything coming from Romney or his campaign.

According to a new USA Today/Gallup Poll, 44 percent of all Americans think Obama’s attacks on Romney are over-the-top and blatantly unfair compared to 40 percent who feel Romney is the primary instigator of wrongful attacks.

Both sides of the political spectrum indicate that the two candidates are being unfairly attacked. Thirty-eight percent of Americans last month said the president’s attacks were unfair vs. 36 percent for Romney.

Over 66 percent of Republicans and nearly half of independents now say Obama’s rancor towards Romney is wrong – an increase over the 59 percent (Republicans) and 38 percent (independents) in the poll last month.

The most ominous number in the poll showed that independents are growing increasingly weary of Obama’s personal behavior as more than half perceive him as the primary aggressor over Romney in political attacks.

The Obama campaign ad that insinuates Romney was responsible for the death of a cancer patient dramatically drove down the president’s poll numbers among independents for the first time in the campaign ad cycle. In fact, The Hill reports the Romney campaign ad, “America Deserves Better” boosted his undecided vote by six percentage points in his favor according to a Vanderbilt University study.

This is not good news for Obama who has enjoyed high polling numbers for personal likeability throughout the polling process.

Although his performance numbers have been below 50 percent for many months, that one aspect was an ongoing given in the campaign. With that figure now beginning to erode, especially with the vital independent vote, it can now be construed that the incumbent president needs to reassess his political strategy with a paltry 68 days left until the election.

The question now will be whether the vicious and personal attacks on Romney have sealed Obama’s fate in November.

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*** Coming next week: Revisiting R. Emmett Tyrrell of The American Spectator